


Burn The Land And Boil The Sea

by idrilhadhafang



Category: Firefly, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Firefly Fusion, Alternate Universe - Firefly Setting, Angst with a Happy Ending, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, M/M, Poe Dameron Needs A Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-19
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:20:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29569521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/idrilhadhafang/pseuds/idrilhadhafang
Summary: When Ben and Poe join separate sides in the Unification War, Poe will do anything to get the love of his life back.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Ben Solo, Poe Dameron/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Collections: Bad Day Collection





	Burn The Land And Boil The Sea

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. 
> 
> Author’s Notes: Let’s say the recent news about Joss Whedon has been hitting me hard, so I’m naturally writing a fusion to work through my emotions. I haven’t watched Firefly in a while, but hopefully I can manage to make this not in poor taste.

The day that Ben Solo joined the Alliance soldiers was a sunny day on Persephone when Ben was nineteen and Poe twenty-two. 

It wasn’t like they were strangers. If they were strangers, then it would have been easier for Poe to hate him. To see him as the enemy. But they had been childhood friends for as long as Poe could remember. As long as he could remember, they would play together, making up stories about whatever adventure they would get into.   
  
They’d gotten older. Poe had started to notice things about Ben. The way that he laughed. The way that he smiled. Things like that...that had started to make Poe’s heart race. 

When Ben had showed up on Poe’s doorstep that day...Poe had no idea what was to come. If he had, he didn’t know if he would have turned Ben away.

***

Even as they sat opposite each other, in Poe’s modest-in-comparison-to-Ben’s-but-still-nothing-to-scoff-at house, Poe couldn’t help but notice that there was something about Ben’s demeanor that was a bit off. Like he was psyching himself up for something. To say something. 

Then, “I heard you graduated. Congratulations, Poe.”

Somehow, there was something about the way he spoke. Just that whole psyching-himself-up thing. Poe frowned, a furrow appearing between his eyes. “You okay, Ben? You look like you’re in a minefield.”

”I’m joining the Alliance.”

Poe couldn’t help but stare at him, hoping against hope that he had gotten everything, just about everything about this, wrong. Then, “I’m sorry?”

”I’m joining the Alliance. They need all the help they can get. Especially in keeping order.”

”Keeping order?” Poe exclaimed. “Do you even know what you’re saying, Ben? Do you even know what you’re doing? They — your parents...”

”I still love them.” A defensive snap. Barely held back grief and anger.

“You’re supporting gorram fascism!” Poe said. “They’re...that’s what the Alliance is. A group of fascists.”

Ben narrowed his eyes. Then, “You think _I’m_ a fascist?”

”No.” Poe made his voice gentler. “They’re just tricking you. That’s all. You don’t know what the Alliance is like.”

”And you do?”

”They...well, they meddle,” Poe said. “People don’t like to be meddled with.”

”They’re just trying to help. Poe,” and here Ben’s voice became softer, more tender, “I want you to join me. We can fight together, bring a new order to the Verse. We won’t have to be separated, you and me.”

Poe swallowed. He had heard enough of what the Alliance had done to other planets. Had heard enough of their policies, of their cruelty that seemed to be sugar-coated to gorram hell. 

But Ben...he couldn’t just turn against Ben. In the end, he loved Ben. 

Loved. There was something about Ben where Poe had been all but drawn in further as he had got older. As they both had, and the Verse had become even more confusing. 

“You’re my best friend,” Poe said. “And I care about you. But I can’t join you.”

Ben’s face faltered. The rejection...well, that enough was palpable. Then, “You’d fight me then?”

”I don’t know.” The truth was, Poe didn’t know what he was going to do. “I won’t fight you. But I won’t support you either.”

Poe could have sworn that Ben’s heart was breaking before his eyes. Just that look...it was almost enough to make Poe feel like a terrible person. Almost. But he couldn’t be complicit. Even if he was on the losing side of history, at least he would be on the right side. 

“You know,” Ben said, “You weren’t just a friend to me. There’s another reason I don’t want to fight you, Poe. I love you.”

In any other circumstances, Poe would have welcomed those words from his best friend. (Would it have to be former, now that he thought about it?) Now they just tasted bittersweet at most. They stung, like the edge of a knife...and maybe that was the problem. Ben...was he just trying to hurt him? 

“Me,” Poe said, softly. “You love me and you’re still fighting me.”

”We don’t have to. We can fight side by side, just like my parents did in the old days.” Poe didn’t mention how Han and Leia would be ashamed to see their son now. “You’re everything to me, Poe. Absolutely everything. And I can’t imagine a future where you aren’t in it.” Then, “Do I...”

”You do. I love you too, Ben.” Then, “I just don’t know if I can forgive you.”

Poe could swear that his words were already stinging Ben. Then, “I just hope you’re happy, Poe.” Ben’s voice sounded genuinely hurt. Like it was Poe that had cut him on the edge of that metaphorical knife. 

“You too.”

Their kiss wasn’t like Poe imagined, if he was to be perfectly honest. It was too soft, too bittersweet, and when it broke, Ben had left, leaving Poe behind in his home and in Ben’s life. 

Poe kicked a wall. It only succeeded in causing Poe pain, but at least it was some tangible way to vent his frustrations. He repeated the gesture, shouting out Chinese curses and obscenities as he did so, until he was exhausted enough to collapse beside the wall, feeling like his heart was shattering in two.

He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t fight the man he loved. 

Could he join the war to get him back? To find Ben, and bring him home...?

_Do you think it’s even possible, Dameron? After all, you could very well end up killing him..._

Even that idea was enough to chill Poe. The idea of one bullet fired wrong, one bomb launched wrong, and Ben was dead...

But he couldn’t think like that. The determination was already building up inside him, molten hot, ready to bubble over — that knowledge that he would tear apart the skies just to keep Ben safe. 

Poe packed his things that night. Paid for transportation offworld in his ship. And from there, he could sign up for the side opposing the Alliance...and see where to go from there to save Ben. 


End file.
